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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27808456">No Strings Attached</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/arkkralie/pseuds/arkkralie'>arkkralie</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crabgrasses/pseuds/Crabgrasses'>Crabgrasses</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>No Strings Attached [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Magnus Archives (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Detectives, Body Horror, Digital Art, Gen, Multi, Other, Paranoia, Spiders, ch 2 is underway but like. we all know how long it takes me to write things xoxo, ill add more later but this one chapter is basically just jon + vague exposition, ive been working on this for like a year + decided to post this bit, unreality</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:48:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>692</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27808456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/arkkralie/pseuds/arkkralie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crabgrasses/pseuds/Crabgrasses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
      <p>somehow this morphed from present tense to past tense in some places and im just gonna say it was on purpose ;3</p><p>anyways thank u to crab my lovely partner for dealing with me just talking abt this au instead of actually writing it for almost a whole year xoxo i love u so much</p>
    </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Martin Blackwood &amp; Sasha James &amp; Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist &amp; Tim Stoker, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>No Strings Attached [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2069016</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>No Strings Attached</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>somehow this morphed from present tense to past tense in some places and im just gonna say it was on purpose ;3</p><p>anyways thank u to crab my lovely partner for dealing with me just talking abt this au instead of actually writing it for almost a whole year xoxo i love u so much</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>[ THE CURTAIN RISES ]</p><p> </p><p>....</p><p> </p><p>[ ENTER THE DREAMER ]</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>trigger + content warnings;</p><p>= paranoia<br/>= spiders<br/>= implied death<br/>= body horror</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>-0-</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>  </strong>
</p><p>There is a sound, muffled and so <em>tender</em> against the biting edges of the plane. </p><p>He pauses. </p><p>There is no one around save for the sparkling glitter in the fog, and the white-tiled floor under his boots. </p><p>He stares into the surrounding air, watching for movement, for something other than the catch of light on dust. He finds nothing. </p><p>He keeps walking. <br/>
And walking.<br/>
And walking.</p><p>There is the crunch of a thing under his shoe, and there is a splatter of neon blue on the tiles when he lifts his foot. A crushed spider lays twitching, and he watches as the life fades from it. </p><p>There is a noise.</p><p>There is no one around, save for the now deceased arachnid and its blood, but he feels Seen. He disregards it and continues forward, the fallen spider forgotten in the glittering mist behind him as he steps over a discarded black masquerade mask, lace details out of place on the tiles. </p><p>He keeps walking. <br/>
And walking.<br/>
And walking. </p><p>There is a sound behind him now, and he tenses, the scratch of sharp edges on the icy tile, <em>scratching the fragile skin of a body, blood spilled, flesh eaten, screams given, he cannot move, cannot breathe, there is no one around to H-</em></p><p>There is a sound behind him. </p><p>He turns and watches the fog there, the glitter in its draft, lifting higher and higher. </p><p>There is no one.<br/>
(but there is something now behind him. He recognizes, he knows its gaze on his neck; he wants to run, but he has to know, he has to.)</p><p>He rounds on his heel once more. </p><p>(Muffled, inaudible talking permeates the air, and the distant clink of glass on hardwood and heels on ivory steps. The image of rich purple drapes fills his head, and he shudders. There’s a line of ice-cold numbness down the left side of his mouth, and he blinks away tears as his brain fogs for a moment. Then the images disappear, and it leaves him there.)</p><p>They are standing still. </p><p>His visitor stands across from him, arms held palm up in offering or a shrug, and he struggles not to gawk at the immense gap that takes up their entire face.  The suit they wear looks identical to silk, trapping the glitter and sparkling like the inky black of their “wound” does. The intense X across their vast skull lights up the glittering fog, and he draws back, roughly missing the wet <em>crack</em> that rings under his shoe as he steps on <em>something</em>. He looks down to find a crushed form of, a root? A cobalt liquid leaks from it slowly, sticking to his heel as he rips away, stumbling towards the figure. He stares at it quizzically, startling as it begins to retreat backward. </p><p>Backward, dragging across the tile into the fog. </p><p>His eyes trailed until it met a mass, shifting between neon blue and pink and covered in dark coarse hairs, long root-like legs dragging backward and pushing its body upwards. </p><p>Eight eyes blinked open, the same branching limbs clicking out across the floor, towering, looming. The pedipalps of the creature shifted, wobbling on its face before its chelicerae fell open to emit a low hiss.<br/>
<br/>
It took a step forward, eyes shuttering open and closed one by one, blinking away slumber and focusing on him as he took a mirroring step back. His breath caught in his throat, reaching for the salvation of the other person behind him, hoping, praying, they could help. Instead of connecting with a silk tie or the cold metal of a nameplate, his hand breaches into cold air.</p><p>He pulls it back in shock, watching as neon webs shift from blue to pink, tying around his fingers and up to his wrist. The inside of the figure's head opens its many, many eyes, cut diagonally by the ever-present X.<br/>
<br/>
The creature lunges, and he feels two hands grab him, pulling him back and back and back and back as the creature dissipates into smoke, pink eyes breaking the fog, piercing him with their gaze as he disappears too.</p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>[ EXIT THE DREAMER ]</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>--</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>To clarify everyone's races + ethnicities + some notes abt their families which I do mention a bit in later chapters!;</p><p> -Jon; Indian, raised by his grandmother ( Indian )<br/>-Martin; Polish + Black mixed, raised by mother ( afro-european) while father (afro-polish) was absent. father's side stayed in contact.<br/>-Tim; South Korean. Both parents are South Korean as well, but were divorced and shared split custody.<br/>-Sasha; black + thai mixed. mother (afro-european) and father ( thai ) are nonmarried qprs.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>come talk to us on the nsa account on tumblr @nostringsattached-au<br/>or come yell at me abt updating personally on my fic + art account @arkkralie (also on tumblr)</p><p>as always,<br/>comments and kudos are much appreciated loves!~</p></blockquote></div></div>
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